Tag Archives: cargo space
Of Course, Nobody Likes The Smaller Trunk of the New BMW X5
There’s nothing more disheartening than finding out that the new 2019 BMW X5 you have been waiting for has a smaller trunk despite it being slightly bigger and having more legroom for passengers. Oh wait, perhaps that is the problem. When BMW decided to give more room for rear passengers, it ironically (and perhaps, questionably) decided that the best way to give that space is to take it from the cargo space.
The new X5 is two inches longer and more than two inches wider than the previous generation, but the cargo capacity has somewhat been diminished to just 31.7 cubic feet with the rear seats up. That’s down from the predecessor’s 35.8 cubic feet capacity. Let’s do that math: that’s four cubic feet less or 11 percent less than the old X5.
There is no information about the cargo space when the rear seats are folded flat, but you can expect that number to drop, too, given that the overall cargo capacity shrunk. The outgoing BMW X5 can carry 76.7 cubic feet of luggage, which will drop to less than 70 cubic feet in the new X5.
How did this happen? There’s no exact explanation and BMW hasn’t offered one just yet. The official specifications from the German automaker said that the new-generation X5’s gasoline variant would have 31.7 cubic feet and this one has no battery or hybrid system that need space. And even if there’s a hybrid or EV variant, the systems should not take that much space since batteries are usually stored beneath the floor.
It looks like BMW simply made the X5’s trunk smaller to differentiate it from the upcoming X7, which is designed to have the largest trunk yet in the German brand’s lineup. If that’s the plan, then BMW has just lost its edge over the Audi Q7 and the Mercedes-Benz GLE, both of which the current generation X5 has trumped in terms of cargo space.